Maharashtra ATS arrests kingpin of charas suppliers

In a major crackdown, the Maharashtra ATS on Tuesday arrested one of the major suppliers of charas, also known as Manali cream, from Himachal Pradesh. The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) teams have been carrying out multiple raids in Himachal Pradesh for the past two months after various cases having links to the state were transferred to it. In a covert operation led by ATS DIG Shivdeep Lande, the agency nabbed Rumi Thakur, who is allegedly a hotelier in Kullu district. According to ATS sources, Thakur is the kingpin of charas suppliers who sent it to Mumbai, Goa, Bangalore and Pune. He supplied Manali cream on the pretext of running a hotel, Riverview. Our teams have been working in Himachal for the past two months to destroy the network of major suppliers of Manali cream across India. After thorough inquiry we zeroed in on three persons and one was arrested, an ATS officer said. Thakur was brought to Pune after his arrest and sent to the custody of Maharashtra ATS till March 9. We are verifying the entire chain of network as to how charas was being supplied across India, Lande told Mid-day. In December last year, the Pune police arrested three people with 32 kg charas worth Rs 1.1 crore. During the probe the Pune police found that the accused were smuggling drugs in bike silencers from Kullu to Delhi and then they were supplied to Mumbai, Bangalore, Goa, Pune and some metro cities using multiple modes of transport. ADG Law and Order, Maharashtra Police, Rajendra Singh last year transferred nine main cases of ganja and charas with a direct link to Himachal Pradesh to the Maharashtra ATS for thorough investigation.